Dialoq is a dynamic chat-based application, inspired by Slack and Discord. Ruby on Rails is used as its backend MVC, with Postgresql for database management/querying. I used React/Redux components for the frontend. The site also utilizes lottie-web for fluid, visually-appealing UI animations.
I built and designed the project over a 10-day period.
- Encrypted login (frontend to backend) using BCrypt with protected routes
- Users can create Servers for any topic
- Users can create sub-chatrooms within a Server
- Live messaging with websockets
- Search functionality (to join servers, add friends, create private rooms etc.)
The websocket for this project was implemented through Rails Action Cable. Channels are dynamically created via a key composed of the server and room database ids. Hash values for each may replace this in later builds. On server/room click, Redux updates the channel key and replaces the old socket.
componentWillReceiveProps(newProps){
if (newProps.match.params.roomId !== this.props.match.params.roomId) {
this.props.fetchRoomMessages(newProps.match.params.roomId)
}
}
componentDidUpdate(prevProps){
if (prevProps.match.params.roomId !== this.props.match.params.roomId) {
this.createSocket();
}
let index = document.getElementById('message-index');
index.scrollTo({top: index.scrollHeight, behavior:'auto'})
}
createSocket(){
let channelKey = this.props.match.params.serverId + '_' + this.props.match.params.roomId;
this.cable = ActionCable.createConsumer('ws://'+window.location.host+'/cable');
this.chats = this.cable.subscriptions.create({
channel: 'ChatChannel',
server_room: channelKey
}, {
connected: () => {},
received: (data) => {
this.props.receiveMessage(data);
}
});
}
Users also have access to an animated menu where they can change their online status and profile icon. Pop-up animation was done with CSS transitions and React Collapse. Rails updates settings on the backend before sending them back to be rendered by React.
React Collapse was also used for the search animation
